Posted on 03/29/2006 2:57:26 PM PST by SandRat
NEW MEXICO (Army News Service, March 28, 2006) – Almost 62 miles and 64 years later, Clifford “Smokey” Martinez received the Purple Heart March 26 at the 2006 Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range for wounds he received as a prisoner of war during World War II.
WSMR Director Thomas R. Berard presented Smokey with the Purple Heart before close to 3,900 participants and thousands of spectators in a closing ceremony.
“This award is 64 years overdue, but how appropriate to be able to present it on this magnificent occasion,” Berard said.
Smokey, a Bataan Death March survivor, said it took a long time to get the award.
“I can’t explain the feelings that I have right now way down deep in my heart,” he said.
Following the presentation, Smokey’s children and grandchildren, some of whom he was meeting for the first time, surrounded him with hugs and kisses.
“I’ve got grandkids who I’ve never seen before come see me here today,” Smokey said as tears rolled from his eyes.
Surviving the Death March
A cowboy and rodeo hand in Pervin Texas, Smokey enlisted in the Army in September 1940 and was assigned to Battery A, 59th CA Command, Corregidor, and Philippine Islands.
He was an artillery observer on Bataan and was surrendered on April 9, 1942. After more than a day on the Death March, Smokey escaped to Corregidor. He was re-captured in May 1942 and transported to Japan on a Hell Ship.
Smokey was liberated at Mitsuchima on Sept. 2, 1945. He mustered out during the summer of 1946 and after college, worked as a carpenter and cabinetmaker until retirement.
WSMR Garrison Commander Col. Don Gentry said it was a pleasure to present Smokey with the Purple Heart.
“It was important that we present it to him before his peers,” Gentry said.
The Purple Heart is a combat decoration awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who are wounded during war by the enemy and posthumously to the next of kin in the name of those who are killed in action or die of wounds received in action.
Prisoners of War
On April 9, 1942, about 75,000 Filipino and U.S. Soldiers were surrendered to Japanese forces. The Americans were Army, Army Air Corps, Navy and Marines. Among those seized were members of the 200th Coast Artillery, New Mexico National Guard.
The prisoners were forced to march about 100 kilometers north in the scorching heat of the Philippine jungles to Camp O'Donnell, a prison camp. During the journey, prisoners were beaten randomly and denied food and water for several days. Those who fell behind were executed, and thousands died.
Survivors faced the hardships of living in the POW camp. Others were wounded or killed when U.S. air and naval forces sank unmarked enemy ships transporting prisoners of war to Japan.
The Bataan Memorial Death March honors this special group of heroes.
History of the march
The Army ROTC Department at New Mexico State University began sponsoring the memorial march in 1989 to mark a page in history that included so many native sons and affected many families in the state. In 1992, White Sands Missile Range and the New Mexico National Guard joined in the sponsorship, and the event was moved to the missile range.
Since its inception, the memorial march has grown from about 100 to some 4,000 marchers from across the U.S. and several foreign countries. While still primarily a military event, many civilians choose to take the challenge.
The 26.2-mile memorial march route starts on the White Sands main post, crosses dusty and hilly desert terrain, circles a small mountain, and returns to the main post through sandy desert trails and washes. The elevation ranges from about 4,100 to 5,300 feet. A new 15-mile honorary route was added this year.
(Editor’s note: Information provided by the White Sands Missile Range Public Affairs Office)
2006 Bataan Memorial Death March - sounds like they are doing the Death March as a memorial
BTTT
You beat me to it. yet another in a long line of poorly written headlines.
BTTT
My neighbor, John Mims, is also a survivor. He was tortured something awful as I am sure many were. john talks about his experience because he says he wants people to know history.
Just the other day my 16 yo son asked his Mom, "Why is Dad so interested in WWII?" and she related his question.
I will tell him tonight that we can learn from history so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past and honor those who so faithfully and fully served this great Nation in its time of greatest peril and need.
Here is some of his story:
http://www.aiipowmia.com/inter25/in050905bataan.html
If their experiences were horrific, then there are few words left to describe what Mims went through. He tried to escape from Camp O'Donnell but was caught seven days later. His punishment? His Japanese captors broke both his legs with a bulldozer blade, then left him in a dungeon where huge rats fought each other to lick his wounds.
Mims, now 83, said he owes his survival to Juanita, the half-American, half-Filipino woman who was a hero in her own right. They met in 1941 at a skating rink ("She fell hook, line and sinker for me," he said), and dated -- with chaperones -- until the surrender. During the occupation, she worked as a bookkeeper for the Japanese military. She would often catch glimpses of Mims in the prisoner of war camp, and she secretly smuggled messages to him with the assistance of kind Japanese guards.
Mims said Juanita also passed information to the American military resistance, a duty she continued throughout the war.
Eventually, Mims was placed on a hell ship and forced to work in a coal yard in Japan until the end of the war. He and Juanita were married on Oct. 14, 1945. He weighed 67 pounds; Juanita weighed 50.
They were married for 58 years when she died last February.
I was wondering if anyone knew where I could get a list of the survivors, I believe my second cousin was on the march.
Thank You
cld72@hotmail.com
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